Geek the Library wants to help U.S. public libraries start local conversations. Libraries in 41 states are using the campaign as a springboard to raise community awareness about the value of the library and the critical funding issues many librari

“No matter how good your data are, you still need stories.” (PEW director Lee Rainie)

When the PEW Research Center issued a January report on Library Services in the Di

The simple truth is this: no matter what we do, our work in libraries makes an impact on our communities. As a community institution, whatever we do—for better or worse—changes the landscape of our communities. With that in mind, we can decide to

For those of us in the library field it's probably not surprising to hear that libraries, faced with cuts in revenue, staffing, and service hours, nonetheless saw an increase in their circulation, programming, and computer use statistics. The Inst

In 2009 the Biblionet program was launched in Romania through the generous support of Global Libraries at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The program had trained nearly 2,500 librarians and equipped over 1,700 public libraries with comput

“Advocate or die.” These words were typed into chat by a participant during our recent webinar, Energize Your Base: Tips & tools to raise awareness and build suppo

With all of the library advocacy tools and efforts in play, one might hope to never again read an op-ed piece that claims the library is a dying institution in this age of Google and smartphones. However, the message has not reached everyone in sp

Civic engagement is not a new concept for libraries, which have long been active community hubs. However, in this age of library transformation, it is time to escalate the scale of community engagement. On one level, it is survival; it is also the

Possibly the most exciting aspect of attending IFLA’s 2012 World Library and Information Congress was the opportunity to truly get a sense of the big—global—picture of librarianship. Across all cultural and linguistic boundaries, there were two tr

How many times have you tried to get the word out about the important work happening in your library? How many times have you tried to convince your community, politicians, and even colleagues of the value of the library? After attending Jamie LaR